SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT SILVER
its antagonism to us who intend to establish a real
control of big business, which shall not harm legitimate
business, but which shall really, and not nominally, put
a stop to the evil practices of evil combinations. (At
Louisville, Ky., April 3, 1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 250;
Nat. Ed. XVII, 185.
SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT. See also BUSINESS;
COMBINATIONS; CORPORATIONS; GOVERNMENT
CONTROL; INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION; KNIGHT CASE;
MONOPOLIES; NORTHERN SECURITIES CASE;
STANDARD OIL COMPANY; TRUSTS.
SHIPPING. See MERCHANT MARINE.
SHORT BALLOT. See BALLOT .
SHOT-GUN. See RIFLE.
SICKNESS INSURANCE. See SOCIAL INSURANCE.
1912.) Mem. Ed. XIX, 386; Nat. Ed. XVII, 278.
____________. The Sherman Law, or so-called Anti-
Trust Law, is just as mischievous in peace as in war. It
represents an effort to meet a great evil in the wrong
way. As long as corporations claimed complete
immunity from government control, the first necessity
was to establish the right of the Government to control
them. This right and power of the Government was
established by the Northern Securities suit, which
prevented all the railroads of the country from being
united under one corporation which defied government
control. The suits against the Standard Oil and Tobacco
trusts followed. The Supreme Court decreed that the
trusts had been guilty of grave misconduct and should
be dissolved, but not a particle of good followed their
dissolution. It is evident that the Sherman Law, or so-
called Anti-Trust Law, in no way meets the evils of the
industrial world. To try to break up corporations
because they are big and efficient is either ineffective or
mischievous. What is needed is to exercise government
control over them, so as to encourage their efficiency
and prosperity, but to insure that the efficiency is used
in the public interest and that the prosperity is properly
passed around. (January 8, 1918.) Roosevelt in the
Kansas City Star, 86.
SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT—
PROSECUTIONS UNDER. There is a grim irony in
the effect that has been produced upon Wall Street by
the complete breakdown of the prosecutions against
various trusts, notably the Standard Oil and Tobacco
Trusts, under the Sherman law. I have always insisted
that while the Sherman law should be kept upon the
books so as to be used wherever possible against
monopolies, yet that it is by itself wholly unable to
afford the relief demanded by the American people as
against all the great corporations actually or potentially
guilty of antisocial practices.
Wall Street was at first flurried by the decisions in
the Oil and Tobacco Trust cases. But as regards the
Sherman antitrust law Wall Street has now caught up
with the Administration. The President has expressed
his entire satisfaction with the antitrust law, and now
that the result of the prosecutions under it has been to
strengthen the Standard Oil and Tobacco Trusts, to
increase the value of their stocks, and, at least in the
case of the Standard Oil, to increase the price to the
consumer, Wall Street is also showing, in practical
fashion, its satisfaction with the workings of the law, by
SILVER—FREE COINAGE OF. There is a certain
difficulty in arguing the issue of this campaign, the
question of free silver. It is always difficult to make
elaborate argument about the eighth commandment.
When a man quotes, "Thou shalt not steal," and another
promptly replies by asking "Why not?" really the best
answer is to repeat the commandment again. If a man
cannot at first glance see that it is as immoral and
vicious to repudiate debts as it is to steal, why, it
becomes quite a hopeless task to try to convince him by
the most elaborate arguments. (Before Commercial
Travellers' Sound-Money League, New York City,
September 11, 1896.) Mem. Ed. XVI, 384; Nat. Ed.
XIV, 251.
____________. The policy of the free coin age of silver
at a ratio of sixteen to one is a policy fraught with
destruction to every home in the land. It means untold
misery to the head of every household, and, above all,
to the women and children of every home. When our
opponents champion free silver at sixteen to one they
are either insincere or sincere in their attitude. If
insincere in their championship, they, of course, forfeit
all right to belief or support on any ground. If sincere,
then they are a menace to the welfare of the country.
Whether they shout their sinister purpose or merely
whisper it makes but little difference, save as it reflects
their own honesty. (Letter accepting nomination for
Vice-Presidency, September 15, 1900.) Mem. Ed. XVI,
548; Nat. Ed. XIV, 362.
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